Thursday
Just like you, New Times likes to party. So we're throwing a big fiesta with food, drinks, and all kinds of fun at Iron Fork. It's a chef competition and a grand tasting event. And by tasting, we mean you get unlimited samples from nearly 40 restaurants, including Pink Pie, Bagatelle, Ra, and Brain Freeze. There will be cash bars with drinks from Banyan Reserve Vodka, Voga Italia, and Rums of Puerto Rico, among others. If you go with a VIP package, you get access to more restaurants and free drinks in the VIP area. So do it up big, you Forkers! 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday at the Hyatt Regency Miami and James L. Knight Center, 400 SE Second Ave., Miami; newtimesironfork.com. Tickets cost $40 for general admission and $80 for VIP. Foodie Four-Packs are available for $25 per GA ticket or $60 for VIP.
South Florida doesn't have color-changing foliage, so how can you tell it's fall? One surefire sign: spooky events such as Wicked Weekend. It'll hit Savor Cinema for a four-day fest of some of the most bad-ass horror flicks of all time. Catch Halloween, Christine, The Thing, and They Live from one of Savor's plush seats. Just don't get too scared and pee in one. Thursday through Saturday at Savor Cinema, 503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale; fliff.com. Tickets cost $10 per movie or $34 for a weekend badge.
As you grow older, you begin to envy people like Nelson Dellis. He has a better memory than pretty much anyone, and he's showing no signs of slowing down. He is a four-time USA Memory Champion and a Grandmaster of Memory. Now he's written a book, cleverly titled Remember It!, teaching folks how to make the most of their memories via fun and useful techniques. Remember this: He'll be at Books & Books in Bal Harbour this week to talk all about it. 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Books & Books, 9700 Collins Ave., Bal Harbour; booksandbooks.com. Admission is free.
Thirty-five years ago, the internationally renowned artist Christo and his wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude captivated Miami and the broader art world with their iconic work Surrounded Islands, which wrapped the small patches of land dotting Biscayne Bay in broad swaths of pink fabric. It's just one of several mesmerizing, large-scale public works the duo created together. Now Christo is back in town. During an intimate chat at PAMM, he'll tell the story behind Surrounded Islands and offer insight into the museum's documentary exhibition about the work. 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday at Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; pamm.org. Admission is free with RSVP.
Beyhive, it's time to assemble — for justice. The ACLU of Florida, FIU College of Law H.T. Smith Black Law Student Association, and the FIU College of Law ACLU Chapter are coming together for Civil Rights Through the Lens of Lemonade: Beyoncé's Ode to Liberty and Freedom. Expect a dynamic conversation about civil rights, criminal justice reform, women's rights, and other topics, inspired by Queen Bey's awesome album Lemonade. 12:30 to 2 p.m. Thursday at FIU College of Law, 11200 SW Eighth Street, Miami; action.aclu.com. Admission is free with RSVP.
Friday
What do Björk, Four Tet, Modeselektor, and Giles Peterson have in common? They've all collaborated with dance mastermind Omar Souleyman. He's been churning out LPs for years, including his latest in 2017 on Diplo's Mad Decent label, To Syria, With Love. And he's also played Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Pitchfork Paris, and a gazillion other cool gigs. Not too shabby for a former wedding singer in Syria. 7 p.m. Friday at North Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; northbeachbandshell.com. Tickets cost $30 in advance and $35 at the door.
Fun fact: Halloween is turning the big 4-0 this year. So what better way to celebrate than peeling yourself off the sofa and heading to O Cinema Miami Beach to see the film? Think of all of the awesomeness this one flick has sparked (well, everything but Halloween: Resurrection). There is no denying the awesomeness of the John Carpenter original, so get your ass to the theater. If you need motivation, just imagine Michael Myers walking slowly behind you. 11 p.m. Friday at O Cinema Miami Beach, 500 71st St., Miami Beach; o-cinema.org. Tickets cost $12.
Escape the Fate just wrapped up a North American tour with Papa Roach. And now the Nevada-bred posthardcore outfit is the papa of its own tour. As a pregame to what is sure to be an awesome show, give ETF's latest album, I Am Human a spin or ten. It dropped in March and features the smash "Broken Heart." Joining ETF for this clearly rockin' evening will be Slaves, Famous Last Words, Picturesque, Set to Stun, and Bloodbather. 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Ground, 34 NE 11th St., Miami; ticketfly.com. Tickets cost $22 to $25.
Bruce Vilanch: You can't help but love him. He has scripted countless Academy Awards shows, written for the Tonys and a bunch of other awards shows, and was the subject of the feature-length documentary Get Bruce! And, as you'll recall if you've ever watched game shows in the middle of the day, he was on Hollywood Squares. It's always a fun evening with the comedian, and his night in Aventura will surely be no exception. 8 p.m. Friday at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 NE 188th St., Aventura; aventuracenter.org. Tickets cost $36.50 to $46.50.
House of Horror Haunted Carnival is back, people. You can enjoy not only two new and spine-tingling haunted houses, but also a spine-tingling (in a nonscary but thrilling way) concert by Chacal and El Micha. It will be a pure Cubaton (that reggaeton-meets-Cubano goodness) throwdown. Joining the fiesta will be DJ Yus and comedian Bonco Quiñongo too. 5:30 p.m. Friday at House of Horror, Miami International Mall, 1455 NW 107th Ave., Doral; eventbrite.com. Tickets cost $30.
Colombian icon Jorge Celedón and Puerto Rican songstress Olga Tanón are joining forces for one spicy evening in Hollywood. Tanón has a number of Grammys and Latin Grammys to her name with hits spanning nearly 25 years including "Basta Ya" and "Así Es la Vida." Celedón's tunes go back 25 years as well, and he's performed for the President and has some Latin Grammys too. 7 p.m. Friday at Hard Rock Event Center, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood; ticketmaster.com. Tickets cost $50 to $150.
Nina Kraviz isn't just a young female techno DJ. She's a trained dentist, beatmaker, singer, and producer who sparked a discussion about feminism, sexuality, and EDM in the video profile Between the Beats: Nina Kraviz. The Siberian-bred talent also has her own record label, Trip. A prolific tastemaker, she got her start as a budding international star at the Melbourne Red Bull Music Academy in 2006. Kraviz will spin a long way from her home in the tundra when she takes over Space's tropical terrace, a perfect spot to hear underground beats. 11 p.m. Friday at Club Space, 34 NE 11 St., Miami; clubspace.com. Admission costs $10 to $50.
Saturday
Florida is a big state with plenty of great rivalries. One of the more contentious is college football's Florida State Seminoles versus the Miami Hurricanes. These two party schools with impressive sports teams will take the field at Hard Rock Stadium for a game filled with tomahawk chops and turnover chains. Buy your tickets now for one helluva Florida showdown. 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, 347 Don Shula Dr., Miami Gardens; hardrockstadium.com. Admission starts at $156.
Teach your kids about other cultures while offering them entertainment and a platform for their own creativity at FUNDarte's Zun Zún Children's Fest. The event will include music from all over the Americas. There will be Afro-Caribbean rhythms, the vocal stylings of Grammy nominee Rita Rosa Ruesga, the gospel and jazz of Robbi Kumalo, and the indie-jazz tunes of Lucy Kalantari. It's the perfect way to occupy, educate, and entertain your little ones. 2 p.m. Saturday at MDCA Mid-Stage Theatre, 2901 West Flagler St., Miami; miamidadecountyauditorium.org. Admission costs $5-$20.
If you're into nature's magical glowing phenomenons, there's the aurora borealis and bioluminescence. And though you'd have to travel quite far for the former, the latter is on display at the Frost Museum of Science exhibition "Creatures of Light" this Saturday through April 21. Originally organized at New York's American Museum of Natural History, the exhibit will show you and the kids why and how these organisms create light. Presenting creatures ranging from fireflies to spooky sea denizens, this experience will be an illuminating one. 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, 1101 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; frostscience.org. Admission costs $17 to $29; children aged 2 or younger and museum members get in free.
Most animated movies are kid-friendly, with one major exception: anime. Leave the little ones at home when you hit up Gables Cinema for an almost-midnight screening of Perfect Blue, a film rarely shown in theaters. The thriller tells the tale of Mima, a Japanese pop singer who switches to acting and modeling. With her career change, people begin dying and Mima starts losing it. Wondering why that is? You'll have to check it out for yourself. 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; gablescinema.com. Tickets cost $8.
Did you know that before Prohibition, beer was the fifth largest industry in the United States? In the past decade, long after Prohibition ended, microbreweries have bounded back and have plenty of unique flavored brews to show for it. Pair them with some of Miami's best tacos, and you have the Miami Taco & Beer Festival at Marlins Park. Don't miss out on this culinary fiesta where you can eat all the taco samples your 4 a.m. drunk self could dream of munching. Expect games, DJs, and vendors too. 6 p.m. Saturday at Marlins Park, 501 Marlins Way, Miami; miamitacobeerfest.com. Tickets are sold out.
Sunday
Sometimes you need a break from the humdrum. And if that time coincides with the 34th-annual Miami Carnival Parade and Concert, you're in a lot of luck. The event is an annual affair, the largest Carnival celebration in the States, and it goes down in the days leading up to Carnival in the gorgeous island nation of Trinidad. This Sunday, you can catch mas and steel bands, some of the most incredibly creative and sensual costumes imaginable, and Caribbean acts such as Kes de Band, Patrice Roberts, Shurwayne Winchester, and Teddyson John. 11 a.m. Sunday at the Fair Expo Center, 10901 Coral Way, Miami; miamibrowardcarnival.com. Tickets cost $30 for general admission and $100 for VIP.
Monday
The Miami Heat is gearing up for another NBA season. The team will play a preseason game against another squad of Florida ballers, the Orlando Magic. If you're a fair-weather Florida fan and want to see which is the best team before the regular season, this is the game you want to attend. Just kidding — you know you're a Heat die-hard. 7:30 p.m. Monday at American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; aaarena.com. Tickets start at $10.
Tuesday
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by the feminist, activist, and writer Bell Hooks is a must-read for any young intersectional feminist. The book examines the many flaws of the pedagogy and teaches readers to transgress the boundaries of race, gender, and class to find freedom. Founder of the nomadic art platform Project for Empty Space, Jasmine Wahi is curating an exhibition at YoungArts influenced by Hooks' book. It will feature the works of 20 other alumni from 1987 to today. Wahi praises the institution for fostering young talents and also asks alumni to take a critical look at education. 6 p.m. Tuesday at YoungArts, 2100 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; youngarts.org. Admission is free.
Wednesday
It's 1958, and Havana is filled with music and abundance before the revolution changes life for everyone on the island. A new musical, Havana Music Hall, tells the story of the husband-and-wife team of Rolando and Ramona Calderon. The two were about to break out onto the world stage that year. The production follows their attempts to revitalize the devastated Havana Music Hall 60 years later. This unique take on Cuba's past and present features an original score by Richard Kagan and Perico Hernandez and was written by author and playwright Carmen Peláez. 8 p.m. Wednesday at Actors' Playhouse, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables; havanamusichall.com. Tickets cost $40.
